The present invention relates to the field of television schedule guides and their method of operation. More specifically, in one embodiment the invention provides a method and apparatus for identifying when a particular show is being broadcast in a television guide system.
As video entertainment becomes increasingly sophisticated, consumers are provided with wider options in video entertainment. In addition to conventional broadcast television programs, a television viewer may now have access to, for example, cable television programming, digital satellite service programming, cable stereo broadcast, and conventional satellite programming. Moreover, within each of the various transmission media available to the consumer, the number and variety of programs is increasing dramatically.
While benefitting consumers through greater selection, the array of programming available to consumers also presented a certain dilemma. Specifically, as the number of programs available to the consumer became large, the process of selecting which program to view became increasingly onerous. For example, a consumer may have access to well over 100 cable television channels. If a particular consumer has access to not only cable programming, but also other programming (such as digital satellite service) the process of choosing a program would have been daunting.
Accordingly, new and improved methods of providing program guide information have been developed for display on the television screen of the consumer's television. Of particular note, the StarSight.TM. onscreen guide system has proven to be pioneering in the field of onscreen guide systems. The StarSight system provides not only television listings, but also capabilities such as theme searching, VCR programming, detailed program information, and other functionality.
Recently, additional functionality is suggested in such systems. See U.S. application Ser. No. 08/665,216, U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,787, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. In one such system, guide information from, for example, disparate sources such as satellite sources and cable sources is combined to form a unified guide.
A system according to this invention may, for example, eliminate redundant information from such sources and provide other functionality.
Significant strides have been made via the StarSight guide system, and in fact such guide systems are achieving widespread acceptance in the television industry. As the complexity of such systems increases, however, still further functionality is desired.